LeafVibe

So if there was every any doubt about my A.konjac blooming, today was the day that you couldn’t hide it. I thought yesterday was bad, and I was proven very wrong unfortunately.

This morning I was awoken by my mother. What did she have to tell me that was so important at around eight in the morning? She had just come home and was hit by a wall of smell; a fact I confirmed when I walked to the front of the house. There was a barrier of smell like a wall that once you hit engulfed you.

You see the Plant Room (aptly named after one of the spare bedrooms was convirted to a semi-greenhouse) is right next to the front door. The flower had secreted its smell all night long, and with the air off in the morning, it settled around the foyer with no place to go. My unfortunately mother happened to walk in and face the full monty of stale, stench-filled air. Of course, this was much to my amusement as she told me to do something about it. Fact of the matter is, I couldn’t do anything and jus had to let the smell wear off whenever it could be.

Problem was that yesterday, it didn’t smell that bad. It was manageable. For some reason it really wanted to drop a bombshell of a smell. It was easily ten times worse than yesterday, and in fact my  eyes actually watered from the stench. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything today.

Just a little while ago I gathered the strength to take some pictures of the monster. You can take a glance at them below. To be completely honest, I really hope we can get the real greenhouse set up. The last thing I need is any of my larger species to bloom while in the house. Lesson learned.

Tags: amorphophallus, konjac
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So this morning I awoke to a funny smell in the house. It was familiar, but for a moment I wasn’t quite sure what it was. That was until it dawned on me that it had to be something in the plant room. A moment later, I had my answer.

My Amorphophallus bulbifer had bloomed. Outside of the plant room, there was a scent of rotten eggs, but once in the room, the smell hit you like a wall. I can only really describe it (at the time of writing) as what happens when you find really old uncooked eggs next to a glass of rotten milk, and it’s slowly getting worse. I don’t expect it to get too bad though, at least I hope not. I just checked and my eyes felt a little burning. Potent little bugger!

Also getting ready for a debut, at least if things go well, are my A.konjac and A.koratensis. Pics of all three are below.

Tags: amorphophallus, bulbifer, konjac, koratensis
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We all know people have to start somewhere no matter what you’re doing, and usually that’s the beginning. So where did I start? A plant named Mr. Stinky.

If you haven’t heard of him before, he’s located at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens here in South Florida in the Windows to the Tropics Conservatory. If you do some searching you’ll most likely come across news reports and pictures of this amazing plant (like this) but you won’t find much since it has been some time since his last bloom. You’ll find more pictures under the following name: Amorphophallus Titanum.

Although I was not there for the first bloom, I did go for the second and third but sadly never at the true peak of his bloom. After seeing the massive size and smelling the stench of something that shouldn’t be alive, it was enough though to spark an interest in this particular genus; an interest that really didn’t take off until a few months ago.

Shortly thereafter I obtained my first two species: Amorphophallus Bulbifer and an Amorphophallus Carneus, both of which had flowered and, just like their giant relative, smelled “unique” but not as potent. I guess the description I could match it up with is some old eggs and some rotten milk with a hint of garbage. Since that time I lost them (I might get into that in a future entry), but it was enough to keep me hooked. Fast forward a couple of years to where I am now and my current collection, all of which I will go into detail when I get the chance.

• Amorphophallus decus-silvae (1)
• Amorphophallus konjac (3; 12 others which have yet to be potted or come out of dormancy)
• Amorphophallus titanum (11; +5 seeds, 2 which have started germination so far)

Although the variety is somewhat small, I’m hoping to expand it a bit more during the Aroid Show and Sale (I will definitely post about that when and if it happens depending on Hurricane Ike). I would say that the above are my prize possessions but they’re not the only thing I grow. I also have a couple blond[e] flamethrower palms, a queen palm, a coconut tree, three champion mango seedlings, red and white passionflower vine, three hibiscus plants, a mango tree from Egypt if I remember right (the name escapes me at the moment), a gladiolus bulb, and a platycodon.

I think that’s quite a bit for now. So for closing, I’ll leave you with pictures of some of my collection currently living in the garage until enough money is saved up for a proper greenhouse.

Tags: amorphophallus, decus-silvae, Fairchild, hibiscus, konjac, mango, palm, titanum, tree
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